Business Process Management

Business process management – the engine that powers digital transformation

In my last post we looked at the connection between Business Process Management (BPM) and Digital transformation. Now we take this a step further and look at just how BPM can actually drive a business to be a leader in digital transformation, rather than a follower of trends.

The IT organization has long wanted to step out of the shadows and take a place in the boardroom where it can influence direction and show the business how it can take a leading position in the race to provide innovation to its customers. BPM is the engine that can be used to drive this innovation forward, providing the tools that are needed to get exciting advances to the marketplace before the competition.

Anticipate wants and needs

Successful adoption of digitization can radically change the way the enterprise engages with their customers. It can allow them to innovate in emerging markets and to optimize their operations so that they are providing the best service at the lowest cost.

When you have adopted efficient and flexible business process management techniques in your organization you will be able to react quickly to innovations, offering services to your customers before they know they want or need them. When you are consistently able to do this before your competition the business will reap the rewards.

Rather than reacting to what the rest of the marketplace is doing, you will leave the competition scrambling to catch up. When your BPM is not optimized, then it is a struggle to change direction with the speed and agility that is needed.

Research and Development – a critical component

Investment in research is a critical factor in business success, and this is something that will only increase in importance. Discovering new technologies and finding ways to harness them to improve your offerings to customers before anyone else has been able to react will put your business in a position that will be hard to beat. But you must have the business process agility that will allow you to implement the change and get it to market first.

The best ideas in the world will not help you if you are not able to quickly act, change the way you do things and realize the potential of these innovations for your customer base before someone else beats you to the chase.

Tools for a changing world

In a digitally transformed world agile BPM is arguably one of the most important capabilities a business can have. The unicorns of this world have learned this, and this is what has fired their success.

The days when your business could keep driving forward like a locomotive, without changing direction are long gone. You need to drive a different type of vehicle now, one that can spin on a dime and reach the new finish line before the opposition has even noticed that it had moved.

It’s really not that scary

All this may sound a bit frightening. What happens if you make a wrong turn in your eagerness to change? That may well happen, but if your business processes are agile enough you will be able to quickly change direction without losing too much ground

Transformation really should not be scary; it would be far scarier to ignore Digital Transformation – it is quite simply a matter of survival for the modern enterprises.